Crude oil managed to hold steady around $98 per barrel as global equities maintained their gains ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later in the day. The meeting is expected to culminate in European policymakers taking decisive steps to tackle the region's chronic debt crisis. WTI Crude Futures bounced from lows near $97 per barrel today. Prices had topped their two-week high of 100.71 per barrel in New York trades yesterday. Meanwhile, a latest United Nations (UN) report warns that Libya's former rebels hold some 7,000 detainees from the recent conflict in prisons and makeshift detention centers, where many have been badly treated and denied their legal rights. The report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the detainees are in facilities, which are mostly under the control of the revolutionary brigades. This underlines the state of affairs in the country and is indicative of the fact that the flow of oil supplies from the nation might take more time than expected to normalize. Markets are also eying the tomorrow's weekly US crude oil supplies data. Last week, US crude supplies fell by 6.2 million barrels to 330.8 million barrels, the Energy department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report. Supplies are around 8% below year-ago levels. Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, also dropped by 800,000 barrels to 133 million barrels.

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